A question I have often asked myself. Someone suggested a while back that it was a bra, but there's a body of opinion in the US, where such things were more popular, that it's a pager.
No, wait, it's not Matchbox twenty, it's Bowling for Soup. Erm, and minestrone is OK, in that if that's what's on offer I'll eat it, but it's probably never going to be my first choice.
I put The Girl All The Bad Guys Want on on Youtube, and then the auto-play thing kicked in and I had a lovely wallow in all sorts of Fallout Boy, Wheatus, Fountains of Wayne... until my boss called and I thought I'd better turn it off.
Well, this whole thing was prompted by some minestrone at Kew recently. I would say I don't like minestrone, but the soup that ChrisC ordered turned out just be nice vegetable soup. In my head, minestrone has pasta in it and is a sort of muddy-brown-tomato base.
I'm wondering if it's going to turn out that my idea is based on (say) Heinz tinned minestrone or something.
Oh wow. I'm right with you. I thought that tomato was optional but common, and had clocked that the vegetables were pretty much what you have to hand, so it could be anything. Possibly beans if you like. And the stock can be anything too, although vegetable, bean juice, and chicken are common.
But it was previously my very firm opinion that pasta was required. It's how you could tell it was minestrone, as opposed to simply vegetable soup.
Having cast around online a bit, I'm not minded to change my view completely, but I will shift a bit. If it's vegetables and pasta it's definitely minestrone. If it's a vegetable soup made by an Italian and/or served in Italy, it can be minestrone. But otherwise it's just miscellaneous vegetable soup with airs. Vegetable soup is nothing to be ashamed of! And minestrone is a peasant-y/plain people's dish anyway.
I might let 'made to a genuine Italian recipe' go by as well on a good day, but as I understand it, there isn't really much of a recipe beyond 'vegetables' so this might be a bit of a floodgate-opening move, so I'm reluctant.
I mean, it's not uncommon for it to have pasta. Or rice. (Or both, I guess.) But it's not essential in the slightest.
The main aspect as far as I'm concerned is the size and consistency of the veg. No hard bits, no big bits, but not blended mush either. After that, it's all good - beans, no beans, rice, no rice... (I like pearl barley in mine, and lentils.)
Wikipedia - from which I drew my new-found knowledge that pretty much veg is all that's required - describes it as "thick soup of Italian origin made with vegetables".
To me thick soup requires a thick base, while it sounds like your description ("vegetables in broth") would have a thin base. On the plus side, if you put enough bits of veg in it, even a broth-based soup becomes something one could no longer describer as thin.
But broth-based vegetable soup with optional extra stuff in it sounds like exactly the kind of soup I like/make. So perhaps I am a huge fan of minestrone after all. Not sure I'm going to start trusting it on menus, though, since I think the brown-tomato-sludge is often the model in the UK.
Yeah, I'm not sure about that - I suspect my default of it being a thinner broth comes from making my own, because I don't really have the patience to bother with faffing around to make it thicker. That said, if you get the veg right, each spoonful is quite thick even if the underlying broth is thin, IYSWIM?
I think there's a case to be made for being a bit more descriptivist about one's minestrone. The authenticity thing is all very well, but after four decades of the thin, vaguely tomatoey stuff with pasta floating in it the idea of declaring that to be "not minestrone" seems pointless.
(See also the thing about bolognese being made with milk and wine and absolutely no tomato.)
I agree. But I don't think anyone is suggesting that the thin, vaguely tomatoey stuff with pasta isn't minestrone. Just that lots of other, nice things also are!
I think tinned soup has a lot to answer for on many scores - it put me off "tomato soup" for a very long time, and it's only fairly recently that I have actually found any that I like (fresh non-creamy ones with basil, basically).
I am rather embarrassed to admit that I really like Heinz tomato soup - but then I also like fresh, basil-y tomato soup. I view them rather like I view instant and "proper" coffee; they're different, but I enjoy both.
La Rousse Gastronomique: minestra - a vegetable soup; minestrina - a lighter soup; minestrone - mixed vegetable soup containing rice or pasta. LRG also says variety of veg/type of pasta varies from region to region, as does whether it is served with grated cheese (separately) or pesto. The average canned/restaurant minestrone is an insult to soup, thin and tasteless.
Soup that comes out of a carton that's easy to open with cold hands, containing pasta and some tomatoey stuff and other pieces of random vegetables, heated through on a gas stove while singing "Minnestrone, minnestrone, minnestrone, minnestro-o-ne" to the tune of "Hallelujah", served with bread from the short-date box at the shop, while camping at a slalom.
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Erm, and minestrone is OK, in that if that's what's on offer I'll eat it, but it's probably never going to be my first choice.
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I put The Girl All The Bad Guys Want on on Youtube, and then the auto-play thing kicked in and I had a lovely wallow in all sorts of Fallout Boy, Wheatus, Fountains of Wayne... until my boss called and I thought I'd better turn it off.
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Yes, my head is behind the times
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I'm wondering if it's going to turn out that my idea is based on (say) Heinz tinned minestrone or something.
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http://www.heinz.co.uk/Products/Soup/Ranges/Classics/Minestrone
(and it is, as
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But it was previously my very firm opinion that pasta was required. It's how you could tell it was minestrone, as opposed to simply vegetable soup.
Having cast around online a bit, I'm not minded to change my view completely, but I will shift a bit. If it's vegetables and pasta it's definitely minestrone. If it's a vegetable soup made by an Italian and/or served in Italy, it can be minestrone. But otherwise it's just miscellaneous vegetable soup with airs. Vegetable soup is nothing to be ashamed of! And minestrone is a peasant-y/plain people's dish anyway.
I might let 'made to a genuine Italian recipe' go by as well on a good day, but as I understand it, there isn't really much of a recipe beyond 'vegetables' so this might be a bit of a floodgate-opening move, so I'm reluctant.
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The main aspect as far as I'm concerned is the size and consistency of the veg. No hard bits, no big bits, but not blended mush either. After that, it's all good - beans, no beans, rice, no rice... (I like pearl barley in mine, and lentils.)
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To me thick soup requires a thick base, while it sounds like your description ("vegetables in broth") would have a thin base. On the plus side, if you put enough bits of veg in it, even a broth-based soup becomes something one could no longer describer as thin.
But broth-based vegetable soup with optional extra stuff in it sounds like exactly the kind of soup I like/make. So perhaps I am a huge fan of minestrone after all. Not sure I'm going to start trusting it on menus, though, since I think the brown-tomato-sludge is often the model in the UK.
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(See also the thing about bolognese being made with milk and wine and absolutely no tomato.)
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I still agree though :-)
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